Improvement in combined cotton scraper and cultivator



UNITED STATES PATENT EETCE.

B. F. BOVLING, OF HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED COTTON SCRAPER AND CULTIVATOR.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 98.3Lil, dated December25, 1869.

' nying drawings, making part of this specification- Figure l being atop view of the improved scraper; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same;Fig. 3, a horizontal section thereof below the beam; Figs. 4 and 5,views of parts detached.

Like letters designate corresponding vparts in all of the gures.

The nature of my invention consists in providing an adjustable and self-adj usting harrow to beused in conjunction with a scraping-blade, bothbeing attached to a stool of cast-iron, the same secured to a commonplow-beam by means of bolts, or their equivalent, passing through thebeam and secured by pins. The harrow is to be fastened to said stool bymeans of a crooked bar of iron at the rear end, at the same angle withthe scraping blade and harrow, to permit the harrow to be adjusted tothe right or left, as needed, the forward ends secured to the frontupright of the stool by means of a bolt passing through both the barsand upright; or two bars may be used to connect by the rear ends passingthrough the harrow-stock in mortises, to admit the harrow to be movedright or left. The harrow-stock can be made either of iron or wood. Thestool may also be of wood.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

I first stock the scraper in any of the forms known. I attach a stool,A, of cast-iron or shank of wood of peculiar form, the front withoblique angles, the rear rounded, while two-thirds of the bottom ofthestool remains straight. The front upright, B, l.which can pass throughthe beam or be fastened by bolts, has an oval-shaped projection, b, onthe left side thereof. This improvement is to overcome two difficultiesin cotton-Scrapers: one, to prevent the too easy detachment, eitherright or left,by little obstructions on the scraping-surface, andenables the power drawing forward to be direct between the front ofbeam,

and centrally between the handles, making it. therefore. far easier bothfor the operator and beast, and enables the scraper to performwork withor without a bed in rough or smooth ground, and enables thescraping-blade to be set at a greater angle, both upright and to theright, and to be longer 'scraping a wider surface. Said stool is to beof cast-iron, the bottom about one to one and a half inch thick, theuprights, say, one and a half inch thick, the forward upright to havecast on the same the oval projection, as described, and to have on itsrear a rounded portion, through which the bolt d passes to attach theharrow E, the rear upright C, to be about one and a quarter inch thickand one and a half inch wide, forming an angle,to admit the harrow-barGr to be in close contact on the sides thereof; also, to have a shoulderto prevent the connecting harrow-bar from coming in contact with bottomof stool and stock above, these shoulders to be sufficiently apart toallow the crooked or oblique bar or bars G to move up or down sufcientlyto allow the harrow-teeth to be always in contact with the scrapedsurface, even if the scraping-blade D forward be on an elevation, andthe teeth of the harrow be in a depression; or the blade may be in adepression and the teeth on an elevation, admitting the harrow to actfreely of its own weight and adhesion on all surfaces, which constitutesthe same its own adjuster, while it may be adjusted to or from plants bysliding the stock right or left. This is accomplished in either of twoways: one, by the crooked connectingbar passing into or through thestock of the harrow through a mortise, g, and forward to the frontupright of the stool, and regulated right and left by dropping a wedge,f, on the sides of bars through a mortise, h, as needed, to keepsecurelyin position the stock; or, when two bars may be used, taps maybe used on the rear ends and made secure, fastening the stock andconnecting-bar of the scraper and harrow.

The harrow is to be set to run at any angle. In the first working ofplants the same angle of the scraping-blade is best. If the plants be ofsufficient size and require soil, a sixth tooth may be added to the leftand a little to the rear, to sift the soil around plants. Vhen theharrow is set with the scraping-blades angle, when a second scraping andworking of plants is needed, set the right of the harrow forward, andreverse the angle ofthe teeth, moving the soil to or parting the samedirectly toward plants, as needed.

Hoes or teeth i t' may be used as well as pegs, iiatted, angled, andpointed forward. rlhe whole overcomes several material objections t0 thecommon scraper without the harrow.

The two combined are operated by one man and team at the same time. rlhetwo form mutual aids to each other, while one forms by its weight,width, and length of blade a certain movement of the soil by itspeculiar adjustment of central contact, both with the soil and obstrnotions. rlhe other (theharrow) aids in its operation to keep in placethe stool and scraping-blade, and thereby pulverizes the soil, leaving aloose soil on the scraped sur face, entirely obviating a seriousobjection to the ordinary scraper, which leaves the scraped surfacebare, that invariably, if left so to dry, forms a shield or crust thatinvariably breaks up in clods, often lodged on or against young plantsin that condition, which tends to injure rather than assist the growththereof', and, fu 1'- ther, forms a lodgment for one of the cottonplantsworst enemies: the louse-an insect which sucks the leaf and stalk. Theharrow attachment accomplishes this greatly-desired object, particularlyin cotton-cultivation. It at the same time thereby pulverizes the soil7and lodges, in lieu of clods, the soil in good condition against thestalks of plants, and on the scraped surface, thereby forming acultivator in conjunction with the scraper.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. rlhe combination ofthe adjustable harrow E with the scraper,substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The construction and arrangement of the oblique connecting-bar G,pivoted to the front upright, B, of the stock, and guided and braced bythe roar upright, C, thereof, as described.

B. F. BOVL'ING.

Vitncsses:

it. M. G-Lovnu, A. Q. VI'rn'nns.

